This report on Form 10-Q includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements in this report, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements for purposes of these provisions, including any projections of earnings, revenues or other financial items, any statements of the plans and objectives of management for future operations, any statements concerning proposed new products or services, any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. All forward-looking statements included in this report are made as of the date hereof and are based on information available to us as of such date. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “believes,” “estimates,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative thereof or other comparable terminology. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained herein are based upon reasonable assumptions at the time made, there can be no assurance that any such expectations or any forward-looking statement will prove to be correct. Our actual results will vary, and may vary materially, from those projected or assumed in the forward-looking statements. Future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements, are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, many of which we cannot predict with accuracy and some of which we might not anticipate, including, without limitation, product recalls and product liability claims; infringement of our technology or assertion that our technology infringes the rights of other parties; termination of supplier relationships, or failure of suppliers to perform; inability to successfully manage growth; delays in obtaining regulatory approvals or the failure to maintain such approvals; concentration of our revenue among a few customers, products or procedures; development of new products and technology that could render our products obsolete; market acceptance of new products; introduction of products in a timely fashion; price and product competition, availability of labor and materials, cost increases, and fluctuations in and obsolescence of inventory; volatility of the market price of our common stock; foreign currency fluctuations; changes in key personnel; work stoppage or transportation risks; integration of business acquisitions; and other factors referred to in our reports filed with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. All subsequent forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Additional factors that may have a direct bearing on our operating results are discussed in Part II, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
ClearOne is a global Company that designs, develops and sells conferencing, collaboration, and AV networking solutions for voice and visual communications. The performance and simplicity of our advanced, comprehensive solutions offer a high level of functionality, reliability and scalability. We derive a major portion of our revenue from audio conferencing products and microphones by promoting our products in the professional audio-visual channel. We have extended our total addressable market from the installed audio conferencing market to adjacent complementary markets – microphones, video collaboration and AV networking. We have achieved this through strategic technological acquisitions as well as by internal product development.
In early January 2022, we introduced DIALOG® 10 USB, the industry's only pro-quality, single-channel wireless USB microphone system offering professional-quality audio with USB connectivity for webcasting and cloud-based collaboration. In March 2022, this new USB wireless mic system won the 2022 NSCA Excellence in Product Innovation Award. One of only seven winners in this prestigious award program, the DIALOG 10 USB is the industry’s only pro-quality single-channel wireless microphone system with USB connectivity for webcasting and cloud-based collaboration such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WebEx, and GotoMeeting. DIALOG 10 USB won its second award in May 2022 by winning the 2022 Top New Technology (TNT) Award in the Microphone category. In June 2022, at Infocomm 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, DIALOG 10 USB won two additional awards - Commercial Integrator 2022 BEST Award in the Microphones category and 2022 Sound & Video Contractor Magazine Infocomm Best in Market Award.
During January, at the Las Vegas Customer Electronics Show, CES 2022, the world’s most influential annual tech event, our home office Aura™ Xceed™ BMA was singled out for exceptional innovation with a CES Picks Award, presented by Residential Systems magazine.
In early February 2022, our Versa Lite CT, a USB audio-enabled Beamforming Ceiling Tile Microphone that brings cost-effective and superb professional conferencing audio to small- and mid-sized spaces received Google Meet certification. Google Meet ranks among the top 5 for growth in the cloud meetings and team collaboration market according to Frost & Sullivan.
In early February 2022, we were awarded a new patent for a beamforming microphone array system with distributed processing. This patent claims a ceiling tile microphone array that can be physically separated from the processors running the beamforming algorithm. It enables a single computing engine to run multiple beamforming algorithms for multiple microphone arrays, which can lower the overall system cost compared to an integrated design that is limited to a single computing engine with a single microphone array. Later in the same month another ClearOne patent was granted which is related to beamforming microphone arrays with acoustic echo cancellation. The patent, titled “Band-Limited Beamforming Microphone Array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation," describes, among other things, a microphone array with one set of microphones used for beamforming, and one or more additional microphones that are not used for beamforming, but instead are used to enhance the audio performance of the microphone array.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
In early March 2022, we were awarded a new patent titled “Conferencing Apparatus”, that describes, among other things, a beamforming microphone array with acoustic echo cancellation and a set of configurable fixed beams. The patent goes on to describe performing a direction of arrival determination, and in response to that determination, selecting one or more of those fixed beams for audio transmission.
In early April 2022, a ClearOne patent issued titled “Ceiling Tile Microphone,” that claims, among other things, a ceiling tile beamforming microphone that is powered through Power over Ethernet (PoE). Later in the same month another ClearOne patent was granted, also titled “Ceiling Tile Microphone,” that claims, among other things, a ceiling tile microphone that includes beamforming, acoustic echo cancellation, and auto voice tracking.
In May 2022, for the sixth time since its groundbreaking debut in 2020, the ClearOne BMA 360 microphone has been recognized by the world’s most discerning AV buyers with the prestigious Best in Market Award at ISE 2022. The microphone was one of only three winners in this year’s award program. The Best in Market Award program is presented by leading industry publication Sound & Video Contractor at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the world’s largest AV and systems integration show. The program recognizes the most innovative technology within the AV industry, and the judges include respected AV and IT managers, directors, engineers, industry consultants and integrators.
During the first six months of 2022, we continued our efforts, primarily through litigation, to stop the infringement of our strategic patents. We believe the decision by the U.S. District Court in August 2019 granting our request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Shure from manufacturing, marketing, and selling its competing ceiling microphone array in an infringing configuration is an incredibly valuable ruling for ClearOne and its business. The decision validates the strength and importance of ClearOne’s intellectual property rights, recognizes ClearOne’s innovations in this space, and stops Shure from further infringing the Graham patent (U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806) pending a full trial. Although there can be no assurance of any outcome of a full trial, we believe this ruling will help pave the way for ClearOne’s recovery from the immense harm inflicted by Shure's infringement of our valuable patents. However, we are not getting the full benefits of the Court’s extraordinary remedy in the form of the preliminary injunction granted against Shure with respect to infringement of our ’806 Patent as we believe that Shure is still infringing ClearOne’s patent.
On September 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois held that "Shure has violated the preliminary injunction order and is found in contempt because it designed the MXA910-A in such a way that allows it to be easily installed flush in most ceiling grids". The Court also opined that, "[t]he record is clear and convincing that Shure - through its design choices - violated the injunction order by allowing integrators to install the MXA910-A in the enjoined flush configuration." Ultimately, the Court ordered that "Shure shall no longer manufacture, market, or sell the MXA910...". ClearOne's motion to accuse Shure's MXA910-US of infringing the '806 Patent is still pending with the Court.
Shure expanded the original litigation in the U.S. District Court of North Illinois to the District of Delaware, where Shure filed claims for patent infringement, including of a design patent, and trade libel against ClearOne. In May 2020 and January 2021, we secured an important pair of wins, defeating Shure’s requests first for a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction, allowing us to continue selling our ground-breaking audio-conferencing products. In addition to defeating Shure’s requests for preliminary injunctive relief, we also obtained a stay of the proceedings with respect to the only other asserted patent. During November 2021, after a three-day jury trial, ClearOne obtained a complete victory against claims asserted by Shure, when the jury returned a verdict of no infringement and invalidated the asserted patent.
In February 2022 we claimed another legal victory over Shure. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued a final written decision confirming the patentability of all claims of ClearOne’s important U.S. Patent No. 10,728,653 (the “’653 Patent”). The ’653 Patent covers aspects of ClearOne’s revolutionary innovations in BMAs and relates to “a ceiling tile combined with [a] beamforming microphone array” that includes acoustic echo cancellation and “adaptive acoustic processing that automatically adjusts to a room configuration.” Shortly after the ’653 patent was issued in mid-2020, Shure initiated the case in yet another attempt to disrupt ClearOne’s patent rights, but the PTAB rejected each and every one of Shure’s seven challenges resulting in the latest in a long string of defeats for Shure.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
We also continued our programs to cut costs and to speed up product development that we believe will enable us to get back to a growth path.
Overall revenue decreased by 5% in the second quarter of 2022 when compared to the second quarter of 2021, primarily due to a significant decrease in revenues from video products and a further decrease in revenues from microphones, which were partially offset by an increase in revenues from audio conferencing products. Overall revenue increased by 1% during the first six months of 2022 when compared to revenue in the first six months of 2021 due to increases in revenues from audio conferencing products and microphones, which were partially offset by a decrease in revenues from video products. Despite the negative impact of COVID-19 and the infringement of our patents by Shure on all professional installed products, our new solutions incorporating Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile ("BMA-CT") continued to result in overall Beamforming Microphone Array ("BMA") revenue being higher than last year. However, revenue from BMA products as well as from our pro audio products are still far below the levels prior to infringement of our patents. Our revenue is negatively impacted due to on-going harm of infringement of ClearOne’s patents despite the preliminary injunction granted against Shure as we believe Shure continues to infringe certain of our patents and violates the preliminary injunction. The patent infringement also has negatively impacted directly the revenue from ClearOne’s other products not related to the infringed patents. Our revenue performance in 2022-Q2 and the first six months of 2022 was also impacted negatively due to increased costs associated with the electronic raw material supply shortages that have affected the global manufacturing of high tech products. We expect these supply shortages and associated increased costs to continue through at least the end of 2022.
Our gross profit margin decreased to 38.1% during the second quarter of 2022 from 44.3% during the second quarter of 2021. Our gross profit margin decreased to 37.7% during the first six months of 2022 compared to 43.5% during the first six months of 2021.
Net loss decreased from $1.6 million in the second quarter of 2021 to $0.3 million in the second quarter of 2022. Our net loss decreased from $3.2 million in the first half of 2021 to $2.2 million in the first half of 2022. The decrease in net loss was mainly due to the recognition of $1.5 million in gain from the forgiveness of CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program Loan, which was partially offset by (a) decrease in absolute gross profit dollars as a result of reduced gross margin, and (b) increased amortization costs relating to our capitalized patent defense costs.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Industry conditions
We operate in a very dynamic and highly competitive industry which is dominated on the one hand by a few players with respect to certain products like traditional video conferencing appliances while on the other influenced heavily by a fragmented reseller market consisting of numerous regional and local players. The industry is also characterized by venture capitalist funded start-ups and private companies willing to fund cumulative cash losses in order to gain market share and achieve certain non-financial goals.
Economic conditions, challenges and risks
The audio-visual products market is characterized by intense competition and rapidly evolving technology. Our competitors vary within each product category. Our installed professional audio conferencing products, which are our flagship product category, continue to be ahead of the competition despite the reduction in revenues. Our strength in this space is largely due to our fully integrated suite of products consisting of DSP mixers, a wide range of professional microphone products and video collaboration products. Despite our strong leadership position in the installed professional audio conferencing market, we face challenges to revenue growth due to the limited size of the market and pricing pressures from new competitors attracted to the commercial market due to higher margins.
Our video products and beamforming microphone arrays, especially the BMA 360 are critical to our long term growth. We face intense competition in this market from well-established market leaders as well as emerging players rich with marketing funds. We expect our strategy of combining curated audio solutions with our high quality professional cameras, and our high-end audio conferencing technology will generate high growth in the near future.
We derive a major portion of our revenue (approximately 51% for the year ended December 31, 2021) from international operations and expect this trend to continue in the future. Most of our revenue from outside the U.S. is billed in U.S. dollars and is not exposed to any significant currency risk. However, we are exposed to foreign exchange risk if the U.S. dollar is strong against other currencies as it will make U.S. Dollar denominated prices of our products less competitive.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) started spreading from China and was declared a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe global disruptions and had varying impact on our business. The installed audio conferencing market was negatively impacted due to lockdowns, postponement of projects and restrictions on the ability of installers to visit commercial sites. On the other hand, COVID-19 generated higher than normal demand for our video products and personal conferencing products due to the significant expansion of the work-from-home market. The extent of COVID-19’s effect on our operational and financial performance keeps evolving and depends on multiple factors including the severity and infectiousness of current and future virus strains, the effectiveness of vaccines especially on novel strains of COVID-19, government regulations, etc., all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict considering the rapidly evolving landscape. Supply chain disruptions primarily resulting from COVID-19 have caused significant fluctuations in our costs of goods resulting in a reduction of our gross margins in the first half of 2022. We expect these fluctuations to continue through at least the end of 2022. If the global economy’s recovery from the pandemic continues to experience supply chain disruptions, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and adversely impact the trading price of our common stock.
Deferred Product Revenue
Deferred product revenue decreased to $43 thousand on June 30, 2022 compared to $54 thousand on December 31, 2021.
A detailed discussion of our results of operations follows below.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Results of Operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022
The following table sets forth certain items from our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 (“2022-Q2”) ("2022-H1") and 2021 ("2021-Q2") ("2021-H1"), respectively, together with the percentage of total revenue which each such item represents:
| | Three months ended June 30, |
|
| Six months ended June 30, |
|
(dollars in thousands) | | 2022 | | | 2021 | | | Change Favorable (Adverse) in % |
|
| 2022
|
|
| 2021
|
|
| Change Favorable (Adverse) in %
|
|
Revenue | | $ | 7,375 | | | $ | 7,735 | | | | (5 | ) |
| $ | 14,920 |
|
| $ | 14,773 |
|
| $ | 1 |
|
Cost of goods sold | | | 4,568 | | | | 4,311 | | | | (6 | ) |
|
| 9,297 |
|
|
| 8,346 |
|
|
| (11 | ) |
Gross profit | | | 2,807 | | | | 3,424 | | | | (18 | ) |
|
| 5,623 |
|
|
| 6,427 |
|
|
| (13 | ) |
Sales and marketing | | | 1,562 | | | | 1,755 | | | | 11 |
|
|
| 3,122 |
|
|
| 3,328 |
|
|
| 6 |
|
Research and product development | | | 1,177 | | | | 1,487 | | | | 21 | |
|
| 2,530 |
|
|
| 2,761 |
|
|
| 8 |
|
General and administrative | | | 1,717 | | | | 1,668 | | | | (3 | ) |
|
| 3,473 |
|
|
| 3,348 |
|
|
| (4 | ) |
Total operating expenses | | | 4,456 | | | | 4,910 | | |
| 9 | |
|
| 9,125 |
|
|
| 9,437 |
|
|
| 3 |
|
Operating loss | | | (1,649 | ) | | | (1,486 | ) | | | (11 | ) |
|
| (3,502 | ) |
|
| (3,010 | ) |
|
| (16 | ) |
Other income (expense), net | | | 1,411 | | | | (92 | ) | | | 1,634 |
|
|
| 1,313 |
|
|
| (209 | ) |
|
| 728 |
|
Loss before income taxes | | | (238 | ) | | | (1,578 | ) | | | 85 | |
|
| (2,189 | ) |
|
| (3,219 | ) |
|
| 32 |
|
Provision for income taxes | | | 19 | | | | 8 | | | | (138 | ) |
|
| 35 |
|
|
| 22 |
|
|
| (59 | ) |
Net loss | | $ | (257 | ) | | $ | (1,586 | ) | | | 84 | |
|
| (2,224 | ) |
|
| (3,241 | ) |
|
| 31 |
|
Revenue
Our revenue decreased to $7.4 million in 2022-Q2 compared to $7.7 million in 2021-Q2 primarily due to a 31% decline in video products and a 3% decline in microphones, which were partially offset by a 6% increase in audio conferencing. Despite the overall decline in microphones, our BMA-CT and BMA 360 solutions continue to exhibit growth while our traditional ceiling mics suffered significant revenue decrease. Audio Conferencing category as a whole increased mainly due to a significantly strong revenue performance of our professional mixers. Video products suffered declines in 2022-Q2 compared to 2021-Q2 due to lack of demand for video products. During the second quarter of 2022, revenues from Americas declined by 13% primarily due to decreased revenues from USA despite revenue increases from Latin America and Canada, while revenues from Asia Pacific, including the Middle East, India and Australia increased by a significant 37% primarily due to overall increase in revenues from India, the Middle East and Japan, and revenues from Europe and Africa decreased by 25% primarily due to significant revenue decrease from Southern Europe.
During the six months ended June 30, 2022 our revenues increased from $14.8 million to $14.9 million compared to same period in 2021 due to revenues from microphones increasing by 9%, video products decreasing by 26% and audio conferencing increasing by 9%. The increase in revenue from microphones continued to be led by our BMA-CT and BMA 360 solutions. Audio Conferencing category as a whole increased mainly due to a strong revenue performance by our professional mixers. During 2022-H1 Americas declined by 3%, Asia Pacific, including the Middle East and India increased by 13% and Europe and Africa declined by 5%. India, the Middle East and Northern Europe led in revenue growth while USA, China and Southern Europe suffered major revenue decreases.
We believe, although there can be no assurance, that we can return to generating operating profits through our strategic initiatives namely product innovation, cost reduction and defense of our intellectual property.
Costs of Goods Sold and Gross Profit
Cost of goods sold includes expenses associated with finished goods purchased from outsourced manufacturers, the repackaging of our products, our manufacturing and operations organization, property and equipment depreciation, warranty expense, freight expense, royalty payments, and the allocation of overhead expenses.
Our gross profit margin decreased from 44.3% during 2021-Q2 to 38.1% during 2022-Q2. The gross profit margin was negatively impacted due to increase in material costs due to continuing supply chain constraints, which was partially offset by reduced freight and tariff costs and a decrease in inventory obsolescence costs in 2022-Q2.
Our gross profit margin decreased from 43.5% during 2021-H1 to 37.7% during 2022-H1. The gross profit margin decreased primarily due to increase in material costs due to continuing supply chain constraints, which was partially offset by reduced freight and tariff costs and a decrease in inventory obsolescence costs in 2022-H1.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Our profitability in the near-term continues to depend significantly on our revenues from professional installed audio-conferencing products. We hold long-term inventory and if we are unable to sell our long-term inventory, our profitability might be affected by inventory write-offs and price mark-downs. Our long-term inventory includes approximately $0.5 million of wireless microphone-related finished goods and assemblies, $0.3 million of Converge Pro and Beamforming microphone array products, $0.7 million of video products, and $1.4 million of raw materials that will be used primarily for manufacturing professional audio conferencing products and BMA microphones. Any business changes that are adverse to these product lines could potentially impact our ability to sell our long-term inventory in addition to our current inventory.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses include sales and marketing (“S&M”) expenses, research and product development (“R&D”) expenses and general and administrative (“G&A”) expenses. Total operating expenses were $4.5 million in 2022-Q2 compared to $4.9 million in 2021-Q2. Total operating expenses were $9.1 million for 2022-H1 compared to $9.4 million for 2021-H1. The following contains a more detailed discussion of expenses related to sales and marketing, research and product development, general and administrative, and other items.
Sales and Marketing - S&M expenses include selling, customer service, and marketing expenses such as employee-related costs, allocations of overhead expenses, trade shows, and other advertising and selling expenses.
S&M expenses in 2022-Q2 decreased to $1.6 million from $1.8 million for 2021-Q2. The decreases in employment expenses and consultant expenses due to a reduction in the headcount were offset by an increase in trade-show related expenses.
S&M expenses for 2022-H1 decreased to $3.1 million from $3.3 million for 2021-H1. The decreases in employment expenses and consultant expenses due to a reduction in the headcount were offset by increases in trade-show related expenses and advertising.
Research and Product Development - R&D expenses include research and development, product line management, engineering services, and test and application expenses, including employee-related costs, outside services, expensed materials, depreciation, and an allocation of overhead expenses.
R&D expenses decreased to $1.2 million in 2022-Q2 compared to $1.5 million for 2021-Q2. The decrease was primarily due to reduction in employment expenses due to reduction in the headcount.
R&D expenses decreased to $2.5 million in 2022-H1, from $2.8 million in 2021-H1. The decrease in employment expenses due to reduction in the headcount was partially offset by increase in project-related expenses.
General and Administrative - G&A expenses include employee-related costs, professional service fees, allocations of overhead expenses, litigation costs, and corporate administrative costs, including costs related to finance and human resources teams.
G&A expenses remained the same at $1.7 million in 2021-Q2 and 2022-Q2. The increase in amortization costs relating to our capitalized patent defense costs were partially offset by a reduction in legal expenses and consulting expenses.
G&A expenses increased from $3.3 million in 2021-H1 to $3.5 million in 2022-H1. The increases in amortization costs relating to our capitalized patent defense costs and insurance costs were partially offset by decreases in legal expenses and consulting expenses.
Other income (expense), net
Other income (expense), net includes interest income and foreign currency changes. Other income in 2022-Q2 and 2022-H1 includes $1.5 million recognized on the gain arising from the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness. Other items remained immaterial during the second quarter of 2022 and 2021.
Interest expense almost remained unchanged at $0.1 million in 2022-Q2 when compared to 2021-Q2. Interest expense remained consistent at $0.2 million in 2022-H1 and 2021-H1.
Provision for income taxes
During the six months ended of 2022 and 2021, we did not recognize any benefit from the losses incurred due to setting up of a full valuation allowance. Provision for income taxes recognized for 2022-Q2 and 2022-H1 primarily relates to foreign jurisdictions.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
As of June 30, 2022, our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $1.2 million compared to $1.1 million as of December 31, 2021. Our working capital was $20.2 million and $18.0 million as of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.
Net cash used in operating activities was approximately $2.7 million in 2022-H1, an increase of cash used in operating activities of approximately $3.7 million from $1.0 million of cash provided by operating activities in 2021-H1. The increase in cash outflow was due to a negative change in operating assets and liabilities of $2.8 million, and increase in net loss by $0.9 million after adjusting for non-cash charges.
Net cash provided by investing activities was $2.4 million in 2022-H1compared to net cash used in investing activities of $2.5 million in 2021-H1, a change in cash flow of $4.9 million. The change in cash flow was primarily due to (a) an increase in proceeds from sale of marketable securities net of any purchases from $0.9 million in 2021-H1 to $3.0 million in 2022-H2, and (b) a decrease in capitalized patent defense costs by $2.7 million.
Net cash provided by financing activities in 2022-H1 was a $0.4 million, comprised of a $0.8 million refund of the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program Loan with interest offset by $0.4 million repayment of principal amounts due on senior convertible notes compared to cash used in financing activities of $0.2 million in 2021-H1, which consisted primarily of repayment of principal amounts due on senior convertible notes.
Capitalization of patent defense costs. We capitalize external legal costs incurred in the defense of our patents when we believe that a significant, discernible increase in value will result from the defense and a successful outcome of the legal action is probable. When we capitalize patent defense costs we amortize the costs over the remaining estimated useful life of the patents, which is 10 to 20 years. During 2022-Q2 we spent $0.3 million on legal costs related to the defense of our patents and capitalized the entire amount.
We are currently pursuing all available legal remedies to defend our strategic patents from infringement. We have already spent approximately $28.7 million from 2016 through June 30, 2022 towards this litigation and may be required to spend more to continue our legal defense. We believe the decision by the U.S. District Court in August 2019 granting our request for a preliminary injunction to prevent our competitor from manufacturing, marketing, and selling its competing ceiling microphone array in an infringing configuration is an incredibly valuable ruling for ClearOne and its business. We believe that the decision validates the strength and importance of ClearOne’s intellectual property rights, recognizes ClearOne’s innovations in this space, and stops our competitor from further infringing our Graham patent (U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806) pending a full trial. Although there can be no assurance of any outcome of a full trial, we believe this ruling will help pave the way for ClearOne’s recovery from the immense harm inflicted by our competitor's infringement of our valuable patents. However, we are not getting the full benefits of the Court’s extraordinary remedy in the form of the preliminary injunction granted against Shure with respect to infringement of our ’806 Patent as we believe that Shure is still infringing ClearOne’s patent. During September 2020, the U.S District Court of Northern Illinois held Shure in contempt for marketing and selling their new design in violation of the preliminary injunction.
As of June 30, 2022, our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $1,203 compared to $1,071 as of December 31, 2021. Our working capital was $20,162 as of June 30, 2022. Net cash used in operating activities was $2,692 for the six months ended June 30, 2022, an increase of $3,677 from $985 of cash provided by operating activities in the six months ended June 30, 2021. We are currently pursuing all available legal remedies to defend our strategic patents from infringement. We have already spent approximately $28,653 from 2016 through June 30, 2022 towards this litigation and may be required to spend more to continue our legal defense. In order to maintain liquidity, we have been actively engaged in preserving cash by implementing company-wide cost reduction measures and raising additional capital. We raised additional capital in 2019 by issuing senior convertible notes, in 2020 by borrowing through the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program and issuing common stock and warrants and in 2021 by issuing short-term notes and issuing common stock and warrants. In January 2022, we issued $2,000 in common stock as consideration for the cancellation and termination of the short-term notes. In addition, we have been generating additional cash as our inventory levels are brought down to historical levels.
We also believe that our core strategies of product innovation and prudent cost management will bring us back to profitability in the future. We believe, although there can be no assurance, that all of these measures and effective management of working capital, including collecting on the income tax receivable balance, will provide the liquidity needed to meet our operating needs through at least August 12, 2023. We also believe that our strong portfolio of intellectual property and our solid brand equity in the market will enable us to raise additional capital if and when needed to meet our short and long-term financing needs; however, there can be no assurance that, if needed, we will be successful in obtaining the necessary funds through equity or debt financing. If we need additional capital and are unable to secure financing, we may be required to further reduce expenses, delay product development and enhancement, or revise our strategy regarding ongoing litigation.
As of June 30, 2022, we had open purchase orders of approximately $6.4 million mostly for purchase of inventory.
As of June 30, 2022, we had inventory totaling $12.8 million, of which non-current inventory accounted for $3.0 million. This compares to total inventories of $13.6 million and non-current inventory of $3.6 million as of December 31, 2021.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of June 30, 2022 (in millions):
| | Payment Due by Period | |
| | Total | | | Less Than 1 Year | | | 1-3 Years | | | 3-5 Years | | | More than 5 years | |
Senior convertible notes | | $ | 2.7 | | | $ | 0.8 | | | $ | 1.9 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | |
Operating lease obligations | | | 1.4 | | | | 0.6 | | | | 0.8 | | | | — | | | | — | |
Purchase obligations | | | 6.4 | | | | 6.4 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | |
Total | | $ | 10.5 | | | $ | 7.8 | | | $ | 2.7 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | |
OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS
We have no off-balance-sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our financial condition, changes in financial conditions, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources, results of operations or liquidity.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES
Our discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial position are based upon our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included under Item 1 of this Form 10-Q, which have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. We review the accounting policies used in reporting our financial results on a regular basis. We believe certain of our accounting policies are critical to understanding our financial position and results of operations. There have been no changes to the critical accounting policies as explained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
For a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 1: “Business Description, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies” in the notes to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included under Item 1 of this Form 10-Q.